The looming electricity crunch: Dark days ahead (Economist)

Lotus-eater

lostinrates wrote: »

Well, there are still woodburning and solid fuel ranges. The only thing is, IIRC they need twice annual cleaning/servicing rather than annual and you reallyneed t be an early riser to stoke. I think also, that we do have to consider the environmental cost of these.

That's true, I forgot about those. Having lived with one for a couple of years, for all heating and cooking requirements, quite glad I did forget about them Doesn't work, when you work full time as well.

GSXRCarlos

i say bring it on, we'll see a definite drive to harnessing solar and wind power.

If it wasn't so damned expensive i'd have a couple of solar panels on my roof

Rochdale_Pioneers

Energy policy has been non-existant since privatisation. Thatcher sold it off and the wonders of the market demanded profit. So we had the dash for gas, built a whole new generation of gas fired power stations and have successfully burned through our North Sea reserves. Happily the market is able to secure gas supply from Russia which is not only cheap but also utterly reliable, as the people of Hungary can testify....

Labour came along and have spent 12 years blowing in the wind of public opinion. Its clear that we need a new generation of nuclear power stations but they're unpopular and haven't been pushed through - the Tories don't support this option either. The green lobby haven't helped - that day protesting simultaneously outside coal, gas, nuclear power stations and objecting to plans for wind and tidal shows that they want us to go back to candles.

What we need is nuclear, and we need it now. Build new reactors alongside existing ones. Build the Severn barrage and screw the birds. Reopen the vestas factory and start mass producing wind turbines. Won't be popular, but I suspect that blackouts will be even less so. A pity that politicians on both sides seem incapable of any leadership on this issue.

The_White_Horse

don't worry, it'll only be those who work that will suffer power outs. the scum on benefits will be looked after. it'll be their human rights innit.

SingleSue

Oh dear, oh dear.....how many times must I tell you not to generalise?

I would suffer (as a person on benefits), exactly the same as anyone else in the street (working or not) if my area suffers a power cut.

Human rights are applicable to all, not just those on benefits.

Harry_Powell

SingleSue wrote: »

Oh dear, oh dear.....how many times must I tell you not to generalise?

I would suffer (as a person on benefits), exactly the same as anyone else in the street (working or not) if my area suffers a power cut.

Human rights are applicable to all, not just those on benefits.

How come you're on benefits? (which benefits? and how much do you receive?)

tesuhoha

This is very hard to understand. I saw a documentary recently which reported that contrary to popular belief Britain's North Sea oil is not running out, in fact there are still billions of barrels left as much if not more than what has already been extracted.

I'm not sure where this is all going, probably being exported and sold at a profit by the City. Certainly ordinary folk are not benefitting from it unless it pays for all the benefits of course. In which case the ordinary hard working person does not as usual get anything

Britain is an oil nation but you wouldn't think it to look at us. Its laughable to be having power cuts. The Government is made up of a bunch of idiots.

SingleSue

Harry_Powell wrote: »

How come you're on benefits? (which benefits? and how much do you receive?)

Even though it veers this thread off topic, I will answer.

I am on benefits because I have 3 children, 2 of whom are disabled (and now possibly my third one too, he has just been referred - completely different thing to the other two) and I am now a single parent (after nearly 16 years of marriage). This makes finding employment rather difficult as I am forced to search in the area which caters for term time employment. I cannot search for employment in normal full time jobs due to child minders in this area not being willing to provide their services as my middle son was exceptionally aggressive and violent because of his condition.

Even term time employment would be difficult due to the amount of appointments for the boys, not just medical but therapy and school based ones too..some weeks I don't have a spare hour let alone enough to work for 5 hours a day.

I have not given up on finding that elusive job though, applications are still going in, qualifications have been brought upto modern standards and voluntary work was taken on in the sector to give me a head start. I am also doing a degree via open university to improve my job prospects and earning possibilities once the children are more independent.

As for how much I get? Hmm, I would prefer not to say as that is my business and no-one elses....

ChiefGrasscutter

Jonbvn wrote: »

I have worked previously in the Nuclear power industry. I would agree that it would be optimistic to plan on getting a new nuclear power plant running within 10 years, even if we started tomorrow. IMHO, the green movement in the UK seems to have sufficient clout to severely hinder if not prevent the significant development of nuke plants.

Time to invest in an Aga?

Indeed, and even if we did sort out these difficulties and finalize the design work such that "we" could just build exactly the same one time after time as identical repeats there is the slight problem of who is going to produce the fuel containment vessel castings/forgings etc. There aren't many firms in the world that can produce these huge items and if they have a backlog of orders from others we the UK are not going to get a look in.

Harry_Powell

SingleSue wrote: »

Even though it veers this thread off topic, I will answer.

I am on benefits because I have 3 children, 2 of whom are disabled (and now possibly my third one too, he has just been referred - completely different thing to the other two) and I am now a single parent (after nearly 16 years of marriage). This makes finding employment rather difficult as I am forced to search in the area which caters for term time employment. I cannot search for employment in normal full time jobs due to child minders in this area not being willing to provide their services as my middle son was exceptionally aggressive and violent because of his condition.

Even term time employment would be difficult due to the amount of appointments for the boys, not just medical but therapy and school based ones too..some weeks I don't have a spare hour let alone enough to work for 5 hours a day.

I have not given up on finding that elusive job though, applications are still going in, qualifications have been brought upto modern standards and voluntary work was taken on in the sector to give me a head start. I am also doing a degree via open university to improve my job prospects and earning possibilities once the children are more independent.

As for how much I get? Hmm, I would prefer not to say as that is my business and no-one elses....

Sorry Sue, that 'machine gun questions' style post was my poor attempt at parodying some of the less sympathetic (and nosey) members of this particular board. It fell flat, I will stay away from humour as of now. My apologies